6 Benefits of SD-WAN for your business
The common thread is that with each innovation, technology comes closer to what business needs it to be. Not something your people need to adapt to. We need an SD-WAN solution that answers the issues a business already has without creating fresh challenges. Businesses should feel the benefits of SD-WAN, the trouble-free security, availability of apps, diversity of devices, etc.
In this blog, we’ll explore the Software Defined Wide Area Network (SD-WAN) benefits that could accelerate your business transformation.
Benefit #1: It’s underlay-agnostic
The basic feature of SD-WAN is that like VPN, it’s a private network exchanging data over encrypted “tunnels” that keep things secure even on a non-private infrastructure. Like an everyday Internet connection. As long as there is an Internet connection, SD-WAN can use it. That means business broadband Internet, private MPLS circuit, home WiFi or even mobile 5G are all fine underlays for SD-WAN.
It’s great for today’s connected world because it lets you extend your SD-WAN to your furthest branch offices and most challenging locations. You won’t have to put in infrastructure like dedicated circuits to connect your remote sites, rural locations, or even developing countries.
There are massive worldwide business SD-WANs with nothing but local ISPs as their underlay. which means SD-WAN is:
- Cost-effective to set up.
- Fast to deploy.
- Flexible when needs changes.
Benefit #2: SD-WAN delivers better security
The next benefit is more conceptual. Imagine a world with no Internet and your business depends on people visiting your building. You want to check each person in, know what their job is, and give them the resources they need to do it. And you need to do this at the office door so people aren’t deep inside the building before you realize they’re bad actors.
It sounds odd today, but many business networks used this “executive floor” model with just a single login to the corporate network. What’s worse, that model relied heavily on the device, not the person. A stolen or compromised laptop, or even just a carelessly written-down password, left the whole network open to anyone with bad intentions.
The modern model is SASE which means the user is authenticated at the perimeter of the network not at the core. And that authentication isn’t access-all-areas, but case-by-case, with a list of permissions governing what applications and data he/she/they can see.
SD-WAN works well with this SASE model; it’s one of the key differences between SD-WAN and VPN. Once again, SD-WAN works the way your business works.
Benefit #3: SD-WAN enables cloud strategies
SD-WAN enables cloud strategies by simplifying how enterprises connect to cloud services.
With traditional networks, accessing cloud applications can be inefficient and complex, leading to latency issues and suboptimal performance. SD-WAN, however, offers direct, optimized pathways to cloud resources, enhancing user experience and application performance.
It enables dynamic traffic steering based on real-time conditions, ensuring that critical applications receive priority treatment. Additionally, SD-WAN supports seamless integration with multiple cloud providers, allowing enterprises to leverage the flexibility and scalability of the cloud while maintaining control and security over their network infrastructure.
Benefit #4: SD-WAN is more accessible
People have been dialing into corporate networks remotely for a long time. The trouble was that those early VPNs created a two-tier society within the company.
The point-to-point connection of a traveling salesperson was nowhere near as good as their colleague’s at corporate HQ. This means they had less access to resources, and it took them longer to get their work done. Inevitably, this meant their experience as an employee just wasn’t as good and their performance may have been impacted.
With today’s broadband connections, people outside the office often enjoy bandwidth a little different to wired ones downtown; in many parts of the world, they’re actually better. This means SD-WAN can offer remote and mobile employees the same resources as anyone else in the company, at equivalent performance levels.
Benefit #5: SD-WANs are in sync with today’s security stance
Following on from the SASE note above, it’s worth reiterating another benefit of the “edge” model SD-WAN works so well with. We authenticate at the edge because the edge is where the complexity is. Many people in different locations could be using a multiplicity of connections and devices at any given time. The unfortunate truth is that any one of them could be harboring bad actors or malware.
Other technologies in the SASE model, like ZTNA, “Zero Trust Network Access”, and CASB, Cloud Access Security Broker, also synchronize with the philosophy of SD-WAN.
The device as a unit does not provide authentication. Each login attempt is a particular set of conditions that must be met, irrespective of the device they’re happening on. Resources may be on a corporate server in the basement or a rack in a cloud data center.
The end-user may be on a work laptop or the family PC in the den. But each connection happens at a deeper level: between the user’s list of permissions and the application or data they apply to, each a secure IP tunnel accessible to nothing else.
Benefit #6: SD-WANs are flexible and adaptable
A huge SD-WAN benefit is that it isn’t tied to a fixed infrastructure. It can shift and shape itself to your needs today, without waiting for the next IT budget refresh.
If you acquire a company of 1,000 people and need to integrate them fast, an Expereo Managed SD-WAN can give them quickly and easily. If mission-critical cloud applications have a massive burst of activity between nine and ten each morning, capacity can shrink and grow as needed.
SD-WAN gives your network the power to grow with your requirements. To change and evolve in response to customer needs and market conditions. Again, just like your business.
As the above shows, the decision to move to SD-WAN doesn’t have to be a technical one. It’s about basic principles of good business that go all the way back. Connecting people. Maximizing employee performance. Expanding your ability to serve customers and more of them.
Managing your own SD-WAN deployment can be stressful, but not with Expereo
Expereo Managed SD-WAN connects all your people, workloads and things seamlessly with a unified cloud delivered network and security solution.
Our expertise and vendor-agnostic approach mean you can cut through the noise and simplify your operations with a single partner, operating under a single engagement, offering best-of-breed technology designed to your exact needs.
Get in touch today to discuss your needs.